


Cooking Up Miracles

by Taruchinator



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, Bad Cooking, Birthday Presents, Cooking, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Winter, awkward dorks, reverse crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28199418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taruchinator/pseuds/Taruchinator
Summary: Naruto tries to make gingerbread man cookies for Hinata’s birthday, only to end up with a burnt crispy disaster. What he doesn’t know is that the black haired girl has similar plans in mind.An AU in which Naruto’s crush shifts from Sakura to Hinata after the first Chunin Exams
Relationships: Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 9
Kudos: 54
Collections: Naruto/Boruto Secret Santa 2020





	Cooking Up Miracles

This was a disaster.

The tiny vicinity that was Naruto’s apartment was filled to the brim with nothing but the smell of burnt bread, which mostly came from the littered sugary goods spread on top of the counter and some parts of the kitchen table. Smoke continued to rise non-stop from the inside of the small oven propped against the wall, all while the blonde tried with no avail to put out the fire that had somehow spread across the tatami floor. 

Naruto Uzumaki, in his 13 years of existence, could have  **never** guessed that he’d be baking. 

It was no secret that he didn’t know how to cook. Sasuke would tease him about it occasionally, and he always tried to ignore him by replying with a wit comeback or just changing the subject altogether. There was a reason why his favorite (and almost  **only** ) food was instant noodles. So when he had asked Iruka-sensei if he knew and could teach him how to bake gingerbread cookies, the brunette’s expression went from confused to shocked in a matter of seconds as he agreed reluctantly.

Naruto could have asked Sakura in retrospect, but there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t laugh in his face, or even worse, tell Sasuke about it so he could do the laughing and teasing for her. There was just no safe way of handling it without having a leak among the Team 7 members.

As he looked on the inside of the oven to see the dark edged, crispy cookies resting on the tray, the blonde let out a sigh of exasperation as he contemplated his options.

_ “Maybe if I add more sugar it’ll mask the taste? UGH MAN, HOW DO GIRLS MAKE THIS LOOK SO EASY?!” _

No matter how much he tried, and no matter how many times he repeated the same process, the result would always be the same and his kitchen would continue to be roasted. This only frustrated the boy to no end, and it would have made him give up a long time ago if it wasn’t for the constant reminder he gave himself about who he was doing this for.

The image of a smiling Hinata Hyuga holding a box of gingerbread men cookies appeared in Naruto’s mind. She held one in her hand and gave a small munch in the corner as small crumbs fell on the floor and icing smudged against her cheek without her noticing. After she swallowed the warm treat, she would smile even more brightly in his direction, as the cold winter weather made her raven hair sparkle with the falling snowflakes around them. With no warning, she would close her eyes, and slowly inch towards him with her warm breath coming closer and closer until—

With face aflame, the young Uzumaki immediately slapped both hands against his cheeks as he curled against the small couch in his living room in a fetal position.

_ Why, oh why, did the universe hate him? _

Naruto’s crush on Hinata had caught him completely off-guard months after his interactions with her in the Chunin Exams. He began noticing her more often than he did before, and would occasionally find himself looking for her among the crowd of their classroom without realizing. At first, he only assumed that he started caring about her more as a friend due to how much they supported each other during that difficult trial, since even though he knew she was a nice person, her shy demeanor made it impossible for him to get closer to her before. 

But after months of going out of his way to talk to her, stand up for her, and overall just joke around her; it was Kakashi-sensei who had teased him about it one morning before training when he saw them talking earlier. 

The blonde had just laughed it off at the moment, but began to seriously contemplate it once he realized that he hadn’t been feeling much of a spark when he was around Sakura as much as he used to. Whenever they got paired together to run errands or spar, he wouldn’t feel that same sensation of butterflies in his stomach whenever he had to talk to the pinkette before.

But when he talked to Hinata, it was different.

She made him smile with almost no effort, and whenever he went through a difficult mission or learned a new skill, she was the first person he wanted to tell it to. She proved to be a strong opponent and a capable ninja, while also maintaining the kindness and humility that made her who she was. 

And that’s when Naruto Uzumaki realized he had started falling for Hinata Hyuga. 

Which only made things even more difficult for him, since unlike his previous experience with Sakura, Hinata actually seemed to enjoy his company. Whenever he joked around or told her about his adventures, she would smile and talk back, even if it was just a few sentences due to her soft spoken nature. The young Uzumaki just didn’t know where to go from this point forward. 

And thus, here he was, struggling to not burn his entire apartment while making adorable-looking treats for the girl of his affections.

Hinata's birthday was today, which was mostly the reason why Naruto thought it would be a good idea to learn how to bake the Christmas traditional cookies so he could give them to her as a present. The other reason being a  _ small _ chance that he might impress her with his cooking skills (which totally did  _ not _ backfire). 

**_Knock Knock!_ **

Bringing him back to reality was the sound of someone knocking at the door, which made Naruto raise his head in confusion as he turned towards the open window to look at the snow falling from the sky. It was already dark out. 

_ “Who would even want to go out in this weather?” _

As he stood up and made his way towards the door, the blonde began to go over those who could possibly be visiting him at this time. There really weren’t many candidates since he didn’t get visitors to begin with. Iruka-sensei, or maybe Kakashi-sensei? Though there weren’t any reasons for either of them to be here.

Reaching for the handle, the boy tugged and poked his head out to the exterior that was a cold wintery night.

The sight that greeted him sent a warm feeling across his chest.

There, standing on the other side of the door, was none other than Hinata Hyuga. She was wearing her favorite sweater, and instead of the usual ninja headband that hung around her neck, she was sporting a red fluffy scarf. Having been caught off guard from the sudden opening, the ravenette jumped slightly as her eyes averted to the ground with a small smile and pink dusting her cheeks. “H-Hello Naruto… I-I’m sorry for coming by without notice…”

“O-Oh… Oh! NO! I-I mean, no, it’s fine! I-I was just surprised to have people knocking at this time, hahaha!” Immediately trying to compose himself and not look like an idiot, the blonde leaned against the doorframe with what he hoped would look as casual as possible. 

Hinata giggled at the boy’s comment. “I-It  _ is _ rather late. There was something I wanted to give you. I considered waiting until morning, but…” 

As he heard her say that, Naruto just then noticed that the girl had a neatly decorated box between her hands. 

Fidgeting with the red bow's string, Hinata extended both arms towards him as she made eye contact only briefly until she turned towards the floor once more. “Today was my birthday, so Hanabi and I made some cookies for our family dinner. T-There were some extras, so I-I thought you might like them…”

Once the box was safely in his hands, the blonde gently lifted one of the flaps to take a peek inside, and could almost feel his heart stop in his throat. 

Gingerbread men— detailed with headbands drawn in frosting and gumdrops for eyes. 

These were better looking than his no doubt about that, but it only made them look like a poor imitation in comparison, especially if they were meant to be a birthday present. The disappointment must have shown in his face, because Hinata’s eyes widened slightly as her eyebrows furrowed in concern. “D-Do you not like them?” 

“H-Huh? No! They look great! Thanks, it’s just…” Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of what seemed like a small explosion came from behind him inside the house. Quickly turning towards the source, Naruto could only stare in helplessness before quickly running inside. “AHHH!” “N-Naruto?!”

After being left unattended, the oven had gone completely off the rails and descended into madness while it tried to burn not just what it had inside, but also the surrounding area of the kitchen floor. Naruto had barely made it in time to salvage what was left of the cookie sheets he had placed on the counter before he quickly turned off the machine and extinguished the flames. Hinata had followed suit after the blonde and quickly began to fan in attempts to save what was left.

The two remained in awkward silence for a moment, and only the sound of Hinata’s gasp broke the tension like a knife cutting through butter.

“Naruto… are these… gingerbread cookies?” The ravenette gestured with one hand towards the table at what seemed to be poorly shaped cookies- burnt to a crisp and almost unrecognizable.

“U-Um…” Naruto coughed in his hand and immediately rubbed it against the back of his neck. “I mean.. That’s what they're supposed to be, yeah. Not like I did a good job on them though…” 

Hinata lowered her gaze to look at the small treats in the cooking sheet, and slowly lifted her arm towards them as she picked one up. It was still quite hot, which made her start blowing small puffs of air in it’s direction to help it cool down to an edible temperature. Once it did, the ravenette opened her mouth and took a bite from the gingerbread man’s foot as she started chewing silently.

Naruto could only stare in disbelief as the girl continued to munch until she swallowed painstakingly slowly. With a short cough, she turned to look at the boy next to her with a smile. “It’s actually pretty tasty… All you have to do is work on the timing in the oven, hehe~” As the blonde stared in disbelief, Hinata must have realized what she had done as her face immediately went pink while she buried it deeper into the scarf protecting her from the cold. “I-If you want, I-I could teach you some of my mother’s recipes…” 

Realizing what the girl had said to him, Naruto’s own cheeks lit up as he smirked in his usual cheeky way. “That’d be awesome! Iruka-sensei taught me a few things too, so maybe  _ I _ could show you a thing or two~!”

Smiling back at him, Hinata hummed in agreement as the boy ushered her further into the kitchen, going on and on about how he would love to incorporate ramen into the flavors they would experiment on. 

Clutching the box of gingerbread men she had brought with her, the young Hyuga was glad that she had listened to Hanabi about making extras for Naruto to try. She may have just come by to make a delivery, but she was happy to know that she was more than welcome into the Uzumaki household. If this all kept going smoothly, maybe one day, she would finally have the courage to confess.

Who knows? Maybe her dreams would come true, and by a miracle he would say ‘I like you’ back.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry almost Christmas, ya'll!
> 
> This is a little something I cooked up for the Naruto/Boruto Secret Santa event I signed up for, and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out! It's been a long time since I've wanted to do a NaruHina fic, but I never found a chance until now!
> 
> I wanted to see what a world with Naruto having a crush on Hinata as a kid would be like, and thus here is my gift! I hope you all enjoy it~


End file.
